Feature: Villa's transfer deadline day activity of old

Feature: Mat Kendrick looks at over a decade of Aston Villa deadline day deals

The 24th deadline day since the current transfer window system was introduced is upon us and all eyes are on Villa Park..

Some deadlines have passed without any arrivals, while on other last days there has been a flurry of incoming activity.

Here at the Birmingham Mail, we are not big fans of the twice yearly transfer scramble and much preferred the old way of allowing signings during the season up until March 31.

It was scrapped in the summer of 2002 amidst concerns it restricted freedom of movement and undermined the integrity of competitions if title-chasing clubs could buy a player to clinch the Championship in the final months. (They had a point, Tony Cascarino’s arrival at Villa in mid-March 1990, effectively handed Liverpool the old Division One crown).

After failing to make a deadline day signing in the first five windows, Villa will have wished they had closed the door on their first last-gasp addition.

Eric Djemba-Djemba – so bad they named him twice – was rushed in for £1.35 million on January 31 2005, when Sir Alex Ferguson saw David O’Leary coming.

Two and a half seasons later, the Villa Park faithful saw the Cameroon midfielder going after just four starts and seven substitute appearances. All he left Villa with, after going bankrupt, was a bill for unpaid for merchandise obtained from the club shop.

James Milner (£12m) from Newcastle - August 2008

HOME JAMES

Fortunately, David O’Leary’s next deadline day dabble in August 2005 proved more successful as he loaned James Milner from Newcastle for a season. The Yorkshire terrier impressed with his industriousness on the wing. Milner might have made it a deadline day double when he arrived the following summer intent on signing a last ditch deal with new boss Martin O’Neill, only for the Magpies to pull out of a £4 million deal, and eventually sell him to Villa for three times as much two years later. It was O’Neill who converted Milner into a central midfielder before he was flogged to Manchester City for £18 million and makeweight Stephen Ireland in 2010.

SHAUN OF THE DEADLINE

It was joked that Martin O’Neill loved last gasp deals so much that the No.31 adorning his tracksuit symbolised his favourite dates in January and August. But even by O’Neill’s standards he left it late with the capture of Shaun Maloney in January 2007. The Celtic playmaker was snapped up for £1 million just an hour an a half before the deadline. The deal might have gonethrough 90 minutes sooner, had Villa not being losing 3-1 at Newcastle earlier that night. Maloney showed glimpses of his ability but got homesick for Glasgow and a return to Celtic. The Scot is now based in Wigan.

MUST HAVE A SIGNING

Moustapha Salifou - even the mere mention of his name brings a wry smile to the faces of the claret and blue faithful.

Nobody had heard of him when Martin O’Neill plucked him from obscurity wih Swiss club FC Wil just before Jim White spontaneously combusted on Sky Sports News in August 2007.

By the time he returned to obscurity, the midfielder nicknamed the Togolese Zinedine Zidane was better known for surviving a horrific gun attack on international duty and earning the terrace chant ‘Salifou-Bulletproof’ than he was for seven starts and six substitute cameos. Curtis Davies also arrived on loan the same day, but suggesting O’Neill as a presenter of the Late Late Show is perhaps a little harsh. He didn’t make a single deadline day signing from January 2008 to January 2009, although he did miss out on signing Brad Guzan on January 31 2008 because of work permit complications.

Richard Dunne

DEFENSIVE DUO

“We had Collins and Dunne, we had a season in the sun, but the joy didn’t last because opponents ran too fast.” That’s what Villa fans might have chanted to sum up the Villa careers of James Collins and Richard Dunne. The pair arrived on the same day on August 31 2009 – although the latter wasn’t a Dunne deal until the following day after paperwork problems – and formed a formidable partnership. A clean sheet win at Blues on their debut got the ball rolling and they helped Villa to the League Cup final, FA Cup semi final and sixth in the Premier League in their first year. After that they became better known for lock ins than shutouts as their early dominance faded and they were embroiled in off the field indiscretions.

AMERICAN IDIOT

Ok, that’s not fair, but Michael Bradley’s underwhelming arrival on loan from Borussia Monchengladbach, undermined an exciting transfer window in which Gerard Houllier had smashed the record signing with the £24 million capture of Darren Bent and recruited Kyle Walker on loan. US international Bradley barely played and was part of the controversial weakened side FA Cup exit at Manchester City. In other news, Stephen Ireland was loaned to Newcastle.

BOGOF

‘Buy one get one free’ was not quite the deal when Alex McLeish launched a double deadline day raid on White Hart Lane on August 31 2011. In fact Villa paid Tottenham over £3 million for Alan Hutton and coughed up a significant sum to take Jermain Jenas on loan too.

In the past year Hutton has played more times for Scotland than Villa after falling out of favour. As for Jenas, he’s probably played more times for Scotland than he did for Villa too, despite being an England international. He was injured on his first start in claret and blue, but Villa had to pay his wages for the entire season.

There can be no argument whatsoever that Christian Benteke has proved to be Villa’s best late deal in the past 11 years. It dragged on into the night, but Benteke was worth the £7 million fee and since then has earned seven million superlatives. Ashley Westwood too was a great bit of business, even if Jordan Bowery is still to completely convince the Villa Park fanbase. As for deadline day in January, Yacouba Sylla seems to have been a shrewd purchase, while nothing was gained in the nothing-to-lose loan of Simon Dawkins.